The French cultural centre in Niger’s second largest city, Zinder was on Friday, January 16, 2015 set ablaze as an angry mob protested French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo for running a cartoon of Prophet Mohammed on the cover of its first issue following the terror attack suffered by the magazine last week.
The crowd of about 50 broke into the building before torching the cafeteria, library and several offices, turning deaf ears to warning shots fired by police guards.
Three churches were also vandalised in the melee, local authorities affirmed.
A local shopkeeper, Aboubacar was quoted by Reuters: “Protesters were shouting ‘Charlie is the devil’ and ‘May hell swallow those who support Charlie Hebdo’ in the Hausa language.”
Muslims generally regard any depiction of the Prophet Mohammed as offensive.
